Fairness does not mean equality, it does not mean justice. Fairness is about being impartial, absent of favoritism and no discrimination.

Fairness is a personal value for me. It has allowed me to see life objectively and to see situations and people without the magnifying glass of judgement. As a leader, fairness has driven me to give a top appraisal to someone I don’t particularly like and to fire someone who is very close to my heart.

It is very hard to have fairness as a personal value and not be in permanent conflict with the corporate life, specially as a leader, what makes it even harder is corporate politics.

Corporate life is impregnated with politics, performance appraisals, calibrations. Adjectives such as being visible, having stature, being assertive, have predominance over verbs such as execute, deliver and perform. It is hard for a leader to practice fairness when subjective assessment is the overarching norm.

I have learnt through my career (the hard way), that the only way to succeed as a leader for a person driven by fairness is to understand that subjective evaluations are just as fair as any other alternative. One has to understand that people that grow their careers through the political shortcut, rather than the performance longhaul, are well deserving of their achievements. And that when great people are let go or choose to leave the company due to lack of fit, that is fair too.

Why is it fair? because fairness doesnt mean justice and it doesnt mean equality. It means impartiality and objectiveness: which applies to the individual as well as the environment and the assessment of a reality where packaging being an intricate part of the content.

In the earlier years on my career I had recurring instances of being called out to have bad stakeholder management skills. When I first tried to get a job, objectively I was smart, driven, well accomplished in school and in real need of a job. The reality was that I got rejected several times. I got rejected twice in the company that by the third attempt offered me a job. Why did I get that job? a) because the hiring manager did not interview me, b) because they were on a hurry, c) because it was an intern’s job and they just needed a human to do it, and d) because a friend brought my name forward. Six months later, I had managers from other areas asking me to refer to them some of my acquaintances that were more “like me”. It turned out that they loved to have people “like me”, only that their recruiting process kept “me” out twice, and would have continued to do so if I hadn’t gotten lucky. Was this fair? yes, perfectly fair. It was life and I did not have the skills needed to make it. It is not a broken system or a bad system, it the system and it was my job to know the rules and skill up.

Since the moment that one of the managers who had passed on hiring me, asked me to refer someone “like me”, I made it a personal objective to improve my interview skills. I read, I prepare, I ask people from HR for a glance on their hidden world. Ever since, I have gotten offers on most of the positions I have gone for.

As a leader, I lead with fairness by showing the world for what it is and by allowing each of my team members to approach it to the best of their abilities. I am transparent and direct and I make sure to take the time to know everyone as an individual and more importantly making sure that they know themselves and they learn to play with what they have in the reality they are in.

I still struggle with politics, and I still wish that people who delivers is taken more into account. However, I am fair to myself as well, I know which are my alternatives and I know the probable outcome of eachone. So when I consiously choose the “slow lane” I dont feel bitter or upset or disengaged. On the contrary, buy choosing to be myself, I am happier doing what I am doing. I have sincere respect for those who choose the “fast lane”. Their sucess is fair and well deserved, hopefully they are also happy doing what they are doing.

The short story of leading through fairness is:

Taking the time to know each one and help them with their development with taylor made actions.

Clearly explaining the reality as it is, with the facts and rules of the game. Being transparent about the good and the bad and then letting them make their own choices.

Hold each individual accountable for their actions. Most importantly oneself. Delivering on promises consistently.

Try new things to push personal bounderies.

Understand that everyone wants to grow their careers fast, yet not everyone is able or willing to pay the prices. The more evident that this becomes, the more productive the team will be.

There is always a choice to be somewhere else. No one should be tricked into staying with false promises.